The second paragraph of the Washington Post's news story (12/17/14) on President Obama normalizing relations with Cuba begins, "Cuba is a flyspeck of an island that long ago ceased to be a threat to the United States."

This is an update to "Refusing to Take Sides, NPR Takes Sides With Torture Deniers" (FAIR Blog, 12/12/14). As Romenesko (12/12/14) points out, NPR's ethics department has been issuing guidance on the use of the word "torture." The first memo, issued August 8, cites a message from then-NPR vice president for news Ellen Weiss, written in November 2009: Contrary to some commentaries, NPR did not ban the word "torture." Rather, we gave our journalists guidance about how to avoid loaded language about interrogation techniques, realizing that no matter what words are chosen, we risk the appearance of taking one side […]

The Senate report revealed shocking, even sickening treatment of the CIA's captives. But ABC's focus wasn't on the US government abuses detailed in the report, but "the fear that its release could threaten American lives."

"Black lives matter" is the rallying cry of the burgeoning movement against police killings. The Associated Press, covering that movement, has produced a perfect example of what journalism looks like when black lives don't matter.

One of New York Times public editor Margaret Sullivan's recommendations to her paper for improving its coverage of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict is "Stop straining for symmetry." It's advice she seems reluctant to take herself.